Marriage, Family, and Relationships

While there was a limited attachment system for most of the first year of the game with the March 2012 expansion update the social interactions and level of attachment for couples in FreePlay was expanded considerably, with the game finally adding the mechanisms for getting engaged, moving in with each other, and getting married as well as having children.

With this new expansion to the Relationships and noting the confusion that many gamers have had on how the relationship system works (based upon the questions being posted to the game section on SuperCheats.com) including this section and a closer look at the process makes a lot of sense.

Relationship Building

There are basic progressive stages for Relationships in the game that can easily be divided up into unique chunks, bringing a three-stage definition to the process. Stage 1 is Friends, Stage 2 is Romance, and finally there is Stage 3, Family and Family Building.

Stage 1: Friends

There are four unique phases of the first stage (the initial phase, Stranger, does not really count), and these are:

• Stranger

• Acquaintance

• Friend

• Good Friend

• Best Friend

Considering that the first two stages can both be accomplished by using the Be Nice action one time each, they represent a very easy 250 XP for each of your Sims to obtain with each other and, perhaps more important, with every Sim in your Neighbor Towns! That is some easy XP to pick up, just saying.

Stage 2: Romance

The next stage involves the process of creating a lasting bond and attachment for your pair, starting with romance and working your way to marriage. While the idea of needing to be married in order to begin a family has fallen out of favor in the real world, it is still a great idea in the Sim one.

• Budding Romance

• Date

• Partners

• Engaged

• Married

Stage 3: Family and Family Building

Once your couple have reached the stage of marriage they are moved in together and are thus in a position to have children, which is accomplished via the baby cradle object, using a combination of Life Points and time.

Once the baby arrives, it will spend virtually all of its time in that cradle until the time comes that you have decided that they should mature to the Toddler Stage, which you accomplish first by Baking a Birthday Cake, which is required, and then holding their Birthday Party, an Event that instantly resolves in their entry into the next stage, which would be Toddler.

Baking a second cake and having a party is necessary for the next stage, and so on.

A Sample Relationship Path

Lee and Clara moved in together...

The first part of the process and the most obvious to begin with is relationship building. When your Sims first move into town they have no mates, no Relationships of any sort, and are in every sense a fresh clean slate.

So your first steps in building Relationships in the game should be directed towards simply making friends -- because not only is mateship the doorway to partnership, engagement, and marriage (and eventually kids) it is also a great way to pick up gobs of XP!

So how do we begin? By talking of course!

Whether the potential relationship is represented by another Adult Sim -- or by your new baby -- the process of building a relationship with them starts with communicating with them, in order to move through the different stages of relations, which encompass the following:

• Stranger (N/A XP)

• Acquaintance ( 100 XP) -- Adds the "Hand Shake" action.

• Friend ( 150 XP)

• Good Friend ( 200 XP)

• Best Friend ( 300 XP)

• Budding Romance ( 150 XP) -- Adds the "Kiss Hand" action.

• Date ( 200 XP) -- Adds the "Kiss Cheek" action.

• Partner ( 250 XP) --- Adds the "Woohoo" action.

• Matrimony (350 XP)

Reaching Good Friend Level

When the Good Friend level has been attained it also adds the "Ask to Move In" selection, and the "Bro Hug" selection to the available interactions. Obviously the Ask to Move In selection is of more importance to us than the Bro Hug selection... I am just saying...

Reaching Best Friend Level

Once you have reached the Best Friend level you add the "Chest Bump" action. This is also a stopping point for regular relations as simply Being Nice is insufficient to raise the relationship level further -- to move above this point requires that the Sims make gestures and actions that enter into the love side of Relationships -- which means either Be Romantic, or Dance, or both.

Reaching Partner Level

It requires a fair but of work to raise your Sim relationship to the Partner Level, but getting there bringsyou very close to the ultimate goal of being married - and in fact the real goal as well since once you get your Sim relationship to this level that is one of the Goals that will pop up.

Maxing out the Partner Level adds the action "Propose Marriage" to the selections, so that is obviously your goal.

Marriage

Once you have reached the Partner Level the next step in the process of relationship building is the obvious one of taking it "to the next level" by moving in together!

Ideally you should probably max-out the Partner level first just to make things quicker -- or not... It is really six of one, half-a-dozen of another, right?

You have the option of moving in together as Partners, or you can go the more traditional route and propose marriage prior to moving in together, though your intended will want you to pop the question at your house so that they can see what it looks like before they say yes :)

Once you select the Propose Marriage action you are presented with a choice of Engagement Rings that you can present to your beloved, which include:

• Vending Machine Dinosaur Ring ($5,500)

• Mood Ring ($16,500)

• Silver Ring (5 Life Points)

• White Gold Ring (10 Life Points)

• Eternity Ring (20 Life Points)

Fair Warning about the ring -- you have to purchase it before you propose -- and if the ring does not meet the quality of your intended they will simply throw their hands up and not accept -- which leaves you out the cost of the ring and having to buy another (better) ring if you mean to try again...

Popping the Question with Feeling

Following your marriage you have the option of placing a baby cradle and then ordering your first born from the Stork -- a process that costs a large chunk of Life Points!

The cost of the first baby you obtain in the game is actually paid for as a sort of gift for you, with the game providing the Life Points that you need as well as a few extra since the process of getting married and having a baby are also Goals that are presented in a timely Fashion so that you get to experience the joy of becoming a parent without it breaking you...

Of course any future babies will cost you Life Points you have to supply yourself!

Relationship Building Menu Selections

In the case of an Adult Sim the options that you can choose from for positive relations take the form of chat and actions:

• Ask to Move In (7 Seconds) 7 XP

• Be Funny (10 Seconds) 15 XP

• Be Nice (1 Minute) 30 XP

• Be Romantic (1 Minute) 30 XP

• Bro Hug (4 Seconds) 7 XP

• Chest Bump (1 Second) 7 XP

• Dance (10 Seconds) 15 XP

• Hand Shake (2 Seconds) 7 XP

• High-Five (1 Second) 7 XP

• Kiss Cheek (2 Seconds) 7 XP

• Kiss Hand (3 Seconds) 7 XP

• Propose Marriage (2013 Seconds) 0 XP

• Woohoo (5 Minutes) 15 XP

Negative actions include:

• Be Rude (10 Seconds) 15 XP

• Complain (1 Minute) 30 XP

Editing your new Bundle 'O Joy

In the case of parent or Adult and baby, the available selections are:

• Cuddle (1 Minute) 33 XP

• Entertain (1 Minute) 33 XP

• Give Food (1 Minute) 33 XP

• Change Diaper (8 Seconds) 3 XP

Being a Jody / Jodi

An interesting effect that you find in the game is when you have a Sim (male OR female) take their relationship beyond just Best Friends with another Sim (again, male OR female) who already has a Partner or Spouse is that, whether you know or have a relationship with their spouse or not, every positive level in relationship you gain with the Sim you are romancing, you gain an equal amount of hate from their partner/spouse.

So it seems that the game maintains a full connection between relations, even when your Sim is visiting a Neighbor's town and romancing!

BTW the Jody / Jodi reference is a military thing - when a guy wants to rag on another guy, they will mention that Jody is back home making it with their girl...

Raising Your Kids

When babies were first added to the game that was pretty much all that was there - babies. They laid in their crib, they could be interacted with, but that was all that there was to it.

Eventually the childhood code was added to the game though, so now once your infant has been alive for a certain amount of time, you can bake a Birthday Cake, have a Birthday Party, and they will mature to the next stage of their life.

The addition of the Kids Store in the game expands the options for things to buy them and things for them to do.

Once you get them to mature they can start attending School - assuming you have built one that is! You should seriously think about doing that.

And with that we nicely wrap up this section on Relationships -- and now it is time for you to ask your significant other to marry you, move in, and help you make a call to the Stork!